community MANAGMENT QUESTION:

So for a while now, my old project has been getting A lot of people that try to attack me, and my project.

Example:

ANONOMOUS GUEST:

"No honestly, you keep on updating this mod for God knows what reason. It ceased development and you still want to be relevant in a community you hate, attack and despise, but yet you can't leave it or can't move on from it. Dam you just have such a ego that I wonder are you now actually retarded or something. Just move on, at this point this mod should now be reported as spam as you are just updating it now so you can "be seen as relevant" even thou nobody cares about this mod or games you make. Your personality has caused that. I will say this and say it again, move on already."

This is the most recent example, which seems to be a reaction to me posting that we will patch soon.

Our page is littered with a couple of these similar posts.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/tiberium-secrets​

if you want to read the conversations.

I'm a bit torn.

We canceled the overall project, as we scoped too big, and released 1/3 of our intended content.

WE were adding a new faction to an RTS, and we underestimated everything!

The problem is also people come, they claim we are “dead”, and then move on.

I get frustrated every time I see these posts, as it feels like it boils down to people pissed as we promised 3 free things, , and they only get one.

I also usually feel like I need to defend myself and the work we did.

Unfortunately this conflict has driven away some of our former loyal community members.

I'm thinking that I should no longer respond to these trolls, as there is nothing I can really do, yet, if I leave these disrespectful comments unanswered for, it will just add up.

I know that some of these people take issue with me directly, as in how I've responded to them. I've realized I've gone down to their level a few times, something i should not have done.

Does anyone have any advise?

I don't want to become one of those people who only take the complements ,and ignore the criticisms, but when most of the criticisms look like the one I quoted,, it's hard to know what to do, and how to take The high road.

My two cents: that kind of hateful unconstructive response really only says something about the state of mind of the author, not so much about you. At a surface level there's no logic or reason to taking time out of their life in order to tell someone to stop doing free work on a free thing because they personally dislike it. Either they are in a bad place in life, in which case we can pity them, or they are just trolling, in which case we ignore them, or they really do have strong feelings they are frustrated about and this is the outlet they could find for it, which is interesting and could probably be ju-jitsu'ed into equally rabid fanboyhood.'

I don't think you should directly engage with people like that, or that you can get anything constructive out of it, unless you have infinite time and a saint-like patience. You shouldn't take it personal. Those things are just part of the cost of doing business.

Brian Sandberg said:
You shouldn't take it personal. Those things are just part of the cost of doing business.

on the logical end, I know this, but on the emotional end it continues to frustrate me.

it SEEMS TO HAPEN A LOT….Makes me wonder abut people you know?

GeneralJist said:
Does anyone have any advise?

Don't spend time and energy on them, just don't answer and ignore those comments. You will get hateful comments you want to address, and responding to them will take your time.

GeneralJist said:
on the logical end, I know this, but on the emotional end it continues to frustrate me.

Don't get frustrated about id**ts.

I've started a project which I over-scoped too in the past, and did some mistakes - like going with it to public communities. The project gets abandoned at some point (practically made it to tech demo, team realized how much work is missing to make it into game, and it was slowly abandoned. Free projects just work like that. Since then I've given up on trying to run (or work in) free or rev-share projects at all. I ceased any communication on it and moved on.

Nowadays working in a more professional manner. Apart from toy project, nothing sees public light unless it's finished enough. Truth to be told, with standard work and family on my hands - the progress is a lot slower than what I'd expect.

YA,,

I mean, it just seems like sometimes they don't appreciate the sacrifices we've made to get them the content.

Vilem Otte said:
Truth to be told, with standard work and family on my hands - the progress is a lot slower than what I'd expect.

Your focusing on day job and family, that's what's more important.

Screw those guys, @generaljist . It's a classic dilemma for small groups or individuals that, when they go to meet the community, things can spiral downwards fast.
This can happen for a multitude of reasons, of which I recognise some:

• Fixating on negative comments (perhaps among an otherwise positive community)
• Not being able to handle feedback
• Escalation from being seen elsewhere, in a less professional setting

I've seen couples that admitted that a few comments would ruin their mood, and I've also seen developers responding to comments they shouldn't have;
some interactions can be avoided entirely; especially if it's not possible to put a completely severed, neutered super-PC response. It's unfortunate, but it's true.
Some developers dig their own virtual graves like that, even if their product is great or if most of their interactions are fine. It's tough to deal with a community.

Now, from a quick glance, it appears that you might be starting to have issues with the last one; I don't know what Tiberium Essense is, but there seems to be something in a recent comment about that.
It can definitely go on to look like harassment, and I think it's sometimes better to provide general updates, lock comments rather than engaging with a comment section that's (probably temporarily) saturated by angry kids.
I'm not here to judge - on the contrary I acknowledge how incredibly difficult it can be to handle an entire community by yourself. I hope you can focus on something else that you feel is rewarding, in the meantime,
and return to the TS community once things have cooled down.

For now, you might have learned that personal attacks are easy to make by mistake, and it can easily be the start of an evil circle. In hindsight, perhaps it's best to have two profiles; one strictly meant to represent oneself as the developer and maintainer of a project,
and another profile meant for the more heartfelt communication in other forums (or mod comment sections, as it was)

Good community managers have a strong sense of self. They don't need or care about validation from others, or about invalidation from others. Hurtful comments can still hurt, but there is no need to let it damage the psyche.

The Internet is a strange place. Sometimes a community of people will be great, supportive, and uplifting, and suddenly something changes and the community turns toxic. Issuing warnings, short-term bans, and long-term bans can be extremely effective.

I've found it's good to build bridges and encourage others to do the same. When you see people building walls, inciting an us-vs-them, or taking negative approaches, that's when it is time to put on the moderator hat. Either in public or in private call out the specific behavior that is problematic, offer an alternative that invites, and give another chance. Usually reprimand in private, but for some behavior a public rebuke is needed. After that, don't hesitate to hit the ban hammer.

There are few tricky situations, including a few on this site. Toxic statements get a single warning, the posts hidden, and then a ban. Disrespect and negativity isn't tolerated. For us on this site, as a learning site and discussion forum, generally as long as people are trying to learn and grow and develop we'll stick with it and allow discussion. As painful as it is, sometimes there are people who are slow to learn yet continue trying over and over, it becomes a tough call, and it depends on the community. For our site here, even if someone has difficulty learning yet they're still trying to learn and grow, even if it takes years, they're tolerated. It can be especially difficult when you know someone has mental issues, when it is difficult to work with them yet still you know they are trying their best. In a professional environment you can cut them, “unfortunately, your best isn't good enough here”, but in public forums and educational forums it's different, in fan forums it's different, in private forums it's different, every community has their own reasons for existing and their own boundaries. In some communities if it starts to try the moderator's patience they're kicked out even if they're not being toxic. It really is up to the community that is being built.

GeneralJist said:
The problem is also people come, they claim we are “dead”, and then move on. I get frustrated every time I see these posts, as it feels like it boils down to people pissed as we promised 3 free things, , and they only get one. I also usually feel like I need to defend myself and the work we did.

If the statement has already been made and is visible, for the examples I see on that site, I'd moderate the statement and move on. The fact that people comment means you might need to make a more prominent statement, or state it differently, but there is no need to allow incorrect information from users to remain.

I'd also disable “guest” comments. I mean, it's been 19 years since this was published and this is still true.

GeneralJist said:
I'm thinking that I should no longer respond to these trolls, as there is nothing I can really do, yet, if I leave these disrespectful comments unanswered for, it will just add up.

Again, if multiple people are questioning it then you probably need to do a better job of communicating it. You don't need their versions to remain up. Make a new statement, amend your earlier ones, whatever you decide to do in order to better communicate it moving forward, and feel no shame about relentlessly removing negativity.

Absolutely consider the comments. Many offer truth from their own view, so consider what it is that they're saying as their viewpoint. They may be offering a truth that you're refusing to see. But that doesn't mean you need to accept nor tolerate the negativity, the toxicity, or the wall-building.

is this the right link?

“I'll go into it with much more specificity at a later date - maybe Monday - but Unreal Tournament 2004 is a great game and an almost ridiculous value. It's only flaw isn't in code - it's in the human beings that feel like they have a license to say whatever they want because they bought the copy that includes a headset.”

Anyway

SuperVGA said:
Tiberium Essense

, This is the most prominent other mod in our space.

I made a personal comment a bit ago, on how I feel we are more innovative, and how I was personally frustrated that they consistently get more traffic and recognition, despite how much work was COMPARATIVLLY involved. His community labeled me jealous, and began a campaign of harassment against my project.

I guess the lesson learned is You get to a certain point in your career, and suddenly your not allowed to express your personal opinions PUBLICALLY.

I just never thought I'd be in that category of people, but apparently I am. I find it strange AND IT maybe a residual outcome of being in leadership for so long…

regardless,

back to the topic….

I normally don't let things like this bother me, but it keeps happening over and over.

It makes me think of that Churchill quote about how when you have enemies, you know it's a good thing, as it means you stood up for something.

But at the same time, I'm trying to listen to our community.

My general suspicion and position remains, in that we were a very high caliber project, and that ends up sorting people usually into one of 2 camps.

1. people who respect the effort
2. people who feel inferior because we exist.

never the less, I might be too close to this situation, and may not be seeing it clearly,

Thanks for all your perspectives.

GeneralJist said:
is this the right link?

Works for me, but I'm not sure if it works for everyone? Yes, the same comic from 2004. My link goes to the https versions, yours to the http version, but same page.

The comic has been memed for two decades, discussed, and often labeled “GIFT” or the “Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory”. Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad, with illustrations and a discussion with the text you mentioned below the image. Perhaps the comic strip image didn't show up on your browser?

GeneralJist said:
never the less, I might be too close to this situation, and may not be seeing it clearly,

I suspect that's the case here. For community management if something gets under your skin, let someone else deal with it. If there is a grain of truth that hurts, recognize the truth and do better in the future.

wow, I just realized I do have moderation powers!

Super Moderator to the rescue!

Tibsec moderation efforts deployed.